kilowatt-hour A kilowatt-hour is
the electrical energy consumed when 1,000 watts are used for
one hour. Use kilowatt-hour to measure production or
consumption. The abbreviation kwh is acceptable on
second reference.

kindergarten Often
misspelled; not kindergarden. Also,
kindergartner is preferred to
kindergartener.

kind of, sort
of Wordy and vague. Delete. If you must qualify
(weaken) your writing, replace those phrases with rather,
slightly or somehow: It's kind of
(slightly) cloudy today. I'm sort of (rather) tired.
Kind of and short of are acceptable to mean
"a species of" or "subcategory of":
That is the kind of development our region needs.

King Jr., Martin Luther; Martin
Luther King Jr. Don't include commas before
or after Jr., and don't drop Jr. when
giving his complete name. Use King on second
reference. Including the titles before King's name is
optional. The federal holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. is on the third Monday in January.

last, latest,
past Avoid using last to mean "most
recent"; use latest instead. Use last
to mean "after all others, after everyone or everything
else." OK: The last time it rained, I forgot my
umbrella. But: He made the last announcement at noon
today may leave readers wondering whether the
announcement was the final announcement or whether others
will follow. Substitute latest for last.
Other times, past may be a better word. Change:
They worked together the last five months. To:
They worked together the past five months. Also see
past, previous,
prior.

The word last can also be confusing to mean
"most recent" when using the name of a month or
day; does last April mean April this year or April
last year? Preferred: It happened in April. It happened
Wednesday. Or: It happened last week. It happened
last month. Redundant: It happened last
Wednesday.

(the) late
Think of the late as meaning "recently
dead." If you think readers will no longer feel a
person's death is recent -- or if you think most readers
will know a person is dead -- don't use the
late. And don't use the late to describe
the former wife or husband of someone who's still alive!
Use former or ex- (hyphenated) instead.

later, latter
Sometimes confused or misused. Use the adverb later
to describe when: after a particular time, after the present
time, or after the time being discussed: I will see you
later today. As a noun and adjective, latter is
"the second of two people or things that have been
mentioned." Also see former, latter.

lay, lie Often
confused. The action word is lay, which means
"to place, put or deposit." It is followed by a
direct object: I will lay the agenda on the desk. I laid
the agenda on the desk. I have laid the agenda on the desk. I
am laying the agenda on the desk. Use lay, laid
or laying if place, placed or
placing would substitute correctly.

Lie means "to be in a reclining position."
It does not take a direct object. It is often followed by
down or a prepositional phrase: The mechanic
decided to lie down. The wrench lies on the workbench. The
wrench lay on the workbench all day. The wrench has lain on
the workbench all day. The wrench is lying on the
workbench.

When lie means to make an untrue statement, the verb
forms are lie, lied and lying.

lead (n.) The
first paragraph or sentences of a news article, infrequently
spelled as lede. Used by journalists to capture the
attention of readers and listeners, leads contain the most
important, interesting or essential details of the article.
An effective method for other types of writing. Pronounced
"leed." See inverted pyramid.

lead,
led Often confused and misspelled. Pronounced as
"led" (like "head"), lead is a
noun for the marking substance in a pencil and the metal a
pipe may be made of. But pronounced as "leed" (like
"heed"), lead is both a noun and a verb
with the broad meaning of "being in front or in
charge": She will lead the investigation. His
favorite horse has taken the lead in the race. The reporter
quickly wrote a lead for the article.Led,
pronounced as it's spelled (like "head"), is
the past tense of the verb lead: She led the
investigation. Don't confuse spelling and
pronunciation of lead with verb forms of
read. It follows different rules. See
lead above.

leave, let
Sometimes confused. Leave means "to go away
from a place or person." It has other meanings, but
don't use it to mean "allow" or
"permit." Use let instead. Let
means "to allow someone to do something; to allow
something to happen." Leave alone is OK for
telling someone "to go away" or "to stop
bothering another person." Use let alone to
mean "not to mention or much less": She
isn't old enough to crawl yet, let alone reach the
counter. See allow,
enable, permit; lets,
let's below.

lectern,
podium Often confused. A speaker stands behind a
lectern on a podium.

legislative titles In texts,
on first reference use Rep., Reps., Sen. and
Sens. as formal titles before one or more names.
Spell out and lowercase representative and
senator in other uses. Add U.S. or
state before a title if necessary to avoid
confusion: U.S. Rep. Warren Jackson spoke with state Sen.
Henry Magnuson. Do not use legislative titles before a
name on second reference unless they are part of a direct
quotation. Also, lowercase legislative. See
councilmember,
party
affiliation.

legislature Capitalize when
the name of a state comes before it: the Washington
Legislature. Keep capitalization when the state name is
dropped, but the reference to the state's legislature is
clear: the state Legislature, the Legislature today.

lend, loan
Sometimes misused. Use lend and its verb forms,
lent and lending when writing about lending
things. Avoid using loan as a verb unless it's
about loaning money. Use loan as a noun. Correct:
Key Bank gave me a $10,000 loan. Key Bank loaned me
$10,000. I lent her my car. Avoid: I loaned her my
car.

lets, let's
Both are correct, depending on how you're using the word.
If you mean let us, the correct spelling for the
contraction is let's: Let's finish the
job. But lets is correct as a present tense
form of the verb let: He lets them get away with
murder. See leave,
let above.

leverage Business jargon used by
financial consultants to increase their return on the time
they're investing in you by making you feel indebted to
them for their understanding of the jargon they're using.
For everyday, clear use, influence is a powerful
word.

LGBT, LGBTQ
Acceptable in all references for lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender or lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and questioning and/or queer. Queer
is acceptable when people and organizations use the term to
identify themselves. Don't use it when intended as a
slur. See gay, lesbian;
sexual orientation; transgender.

liable, libel,
likely Sometimes confused. Both liable
and likely express probability of something
happening, but liable suggests exposure to something
undesirable or unpleasant. See libel, slander below
for definitions of the noun and verb libel. See
apt, likely; likelihood, likely.

liaison
Commonly misspelled. Not liason or laison.
Also, the verb liaise (with) is jargon. Though
wordier, act as a liaison, exchange information, work
together or even communicate is clearer.

libel,
slander Sometimes confused and misused. Both
involve defamation, or an attack on or injury to the
reputation or honor of another. But libel is written
(or printed), and slander is spoken. Court decisions
and varying state laws in the United States further define
each term concerning truth, opinion, fault, public figures,
private individuals, and other constitutional and legal
issues.

liberal,
liberalism Ignore misleading uses of these
honorable words. Used accurately, liberal implies
tolerance of others' views and open-mindedness to ideas
that challenge tradition and established institutions. To be
liberal means to be willing to understand or respect the
different, even unorthodox behavior and ideas of other
people. A liberal person supports changes and reform in
political, social or religious systems that promote democracy
and individual freedom. To be liberal is to be generous and
plentiful. Be liberal proudly. Also, lowercase
liberal as a political philosophy. See conservation,
conservative; progressive.

lighted, lit
Both lighted and lit are acceptable as
past-tense verbs, though lit is more often used:
The mourners lighted 100 candles for the vigil. The
mourners lit 100 candles for the vigil.Lighted
is preferred for the adjective form: The intersection is
well-lighted. A well-lighted intersection. A lighted
candle.

lightning,
lightening Commonly misspelled or confused.
Lightning is an electrical discharge in the sky.
Lightening is making something less serious, less
heavy or less dark.

light
rail Two words. Hyphenate when used as a
compound adjective: They considered two light-rail
alternatives for the region.

likelihood,
likely Commonly misspelled. Also, when using
likely as an adverb to modify a verb, precede it
with most, quite, rather or very: The
council will very likely approve the plan. Those
qualifying words aren't needed with probably, in all
likelihood and is likely to: The council
will probably approve the plan. The council is likely to
approve the plan. See apt,
likely; liable,
likely.

liqueur,
liquor Often confused or misspelled. Liquor
is usually a distilled alcoholic beverage. Liqueur is
a type of liquor, usually sweet and flavored, typically
served after dinner. Memory aid for liqueur: It has
two u's separated by an e, one after the
q and one before the r.

Listserv,
listserv Don't use this registered trademark
for a brand of software when writing about an email
list, internet mailing list, email
forum or internet discussion group. Use a
version of those terms instead.

lists Lists
are useful in texts to save space and improve readability. To
use this technique most effectively, follow these guidelines:

Put words and ideas common to all items in the lead-in,
introductory sentence.

List only comparable items; choose list items that form a
logical group.

Present only one idea in each item.

Keep the list items grammatically parallel.

Use only words, phrases or short sentences.

Provide adequate transitions before and after lists.

Do not overuse lists or make them too long.

Use consistent punctuation and capitalization in list
items.

When listing information in paragraph form,
use commas to separate items in the list if the items are
brief and have little or no internal punctuation. If the
items are complex, separate them with semicolons. To stress
sequence, order or chronology of list items, begin each item
with a number or letter enclosed in parentheses or
followed by a period.

Use a colon to introduce a list only if a full sentence or
clause comes before it. That introductory statement should
end with the following: or as follows: or
like this: or other similar phrases. The first
paragraph of this lists item is also an
example of when a colon should be used. Or simply use an
introductory sentence like this one (followed by a colon):
Here are some examples:

Do not use a colon after phrases like The problems
include ... or The members of the task force
are .... The previous sentence also shows when a colon
is not needed.

Here are two examples:

We think he should (1) increase his administrative
skills, (2) get more education and (3) increase his
production.

You should expect your vendor to do the following:
train you in the care of your system; offer regular
maintenance, with parts replacement when necessary; and
respond quickly to service requests.

When listing information in a column (a
vertical list), follow these guidelines:

End the introduction to the list with a colon if it is a
complete sentence, as described and shown above for a list
within a paragraph.

Capitalize the first word in each item if one or more of
the items are complete sentences. Preferably, all
or none of the items should be a complete
sentence.

Don't end list items with a semicolon. And don't
use periods or other ending punctuation on items in the
list unless one or more of the items are complete
sentences.

Put a period after the final item in all lists.

Avoid ending the introductory phrase with a verb. If you
can't avoid that, you should:

end the introductory phrase with a colon (as shown above).

treat each item in the list as the end of sentence.

begin each item with a lowercase letter.

end each item with a period.

In that list format, don't put a conjunction like
and or or after the second-to-last item.

Here are some guidelines for using bullets, numbers
or other punctuation marks in a vertical list:

Use bullets before each item in the list when rank or
sequence is not important.

Avoid using an asterisk (*) or dash (--)
to stand for bullets; most word processing and graphic
design programs create bullets easily.

If using numbers to introduce items in a vertical list,
don't enclose the numbers in parentheses but follow
each with a period and a space.

Here are some guidelines for indenting a
list:

Indent each item in the list if one or more of them
develop a complete thought or contain more than one
sentence.

If an item extends beyond one line, align the beginning of
each line with the first word of the item after the number
or bullet.

literally Overused and misused.
It means "actually or in fact," not
"figuratively." No politician, rock band or cult,
for example, can literally sweep the Earth. In other
words, use literally only when describing reality,
or consider dropping the word.

loath, loathe
Often confused or misspelled. Use the adjective
loath (pronounced like "both") to describe
someone who's reluctant to do something. The verb
loathe means "to dislike something or somebody
intensely."

locality Formal and overstated.
Simplify or be more specific. Replace with area, place,
neighborhood, site or district.

local of a union Always
use a figure and capitalize local when giving the
name of a union subdivision: Local 587 of the Amalgamated
Transit Union. Lowercase local standing alone
or in plural uses: The local will vote Tuesday. Many
employees are members of locals 17, 77, 117, 174 and
587.

located Usually unnecessary
when giving a location: The plant is in Renton. Not:
The plant is located in Renton. Or: Their office
is on Bourbon Street. Not: Their office is located
on Bourbon Street. For other uses, consider using
simpler verbs place or find.

login/log in, logon/log
on, log off, log out Use one word as nouns, two
words as verbs: Have you been told your login yet? She
was told to log on to her computer. He logged in to the
database program. Everyone was logging off the network.
Verb use is more common. Log in and log on
are interchangeable; so are log off and log
out. Don't log into or log onto.

long
distance, long-distance Always use a hyphen when
writing about telephone calls: We keep in touch by
long-distance. He called long-distance. She took the
long-distance call. In other uses, use a hyphen only
when used as a compound modifier: She made a
long-distance trip. He traveled a long distance.

long range,
long-range Hyphenate when used as a compound
adjective before a noun: long-range plan.

long shot Two words. Informal for any venture with
only a slight chance of success but offering great rewards if
successful.

long-term,
short-term Hyphenate when used as compound
adjectives: The team developed a long-term regional
plan.